2026年9月11日 下午5:25 美东夏令时 / 福克斯新闻
军事法官暂定2028年6月为审判日期，距这场造成近3000人死亡的袭击已过去近27年。
作者：摩根·菲利普斯 福克斯新闻
9·11受害者家属讲述等待正义数十年的“朦胧地带”
哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德及三名同案被告的审判将于2028年进行，但袭击已过去25年，案件仍悬而未决。
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在近3000人在9月11日袭击中丧生的25年后，那些期待将被控袭击策划者绳之以法的家属们，正面临另一个令人绝望的可能性：他们可能永远等不到判决结果。
一名军事法官已将被控9·11事件主谋的哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德及三名同案被告的审判日期定为2028年6月5日，距袭击发生已近27年。但该日期仍属暂定，而近期一项禁止检方使用穆罕默德向联邦调查局（FBI）特工所作供述的裁决，更凸显了仍在威胁该案的法律障碍。
“这就像一处开放性伤口，每逢周年纪念，这处伤口就会更加疼痛，”曾在世贸中心废墟参与9个月搜救工作的港务局警察局前部门主管约翰·瑞安对福克斯新闻数字频道表示。
法官驳回哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德的9·11认罪供述，审判等待再延长
瑞安是受害者家属及急救人员之一，他们眼睁睁看着这场诉讼因以下因素拖延多年：被告在中央情报局（CIA）羁押期间遭受酷刑后获取的证据、一项破裂的认罪协议、军事法官多次更迭以及堆积如山的未决审前动议。
约翰·瑞安：“我们如今已来到袭击发生25年后的节点，我仍在参与相关工作，因为我们仍未将关塔那摩监狱关押的五名嫌疑人定罪或绳之以法。这些策划者，哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德及其他在押人员，正等待审判。”
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瑞安后来加入FBI牵头的联合反恐特遣队并担任指挥官。
穆罕默德及另外三名被告已被美国关押多年，尚未因被控参与这场造成近3000人死亡的袭击而受审。第五名被告拉姆齐·本·阿什拉夫因被认定无受审能力，正被单独处理。
被控策划2001年9月11日恐怖袭击的哈立德·谢赫·穆罕默德自2003年起被关押在关塔那摩湾。（美联社）
近期一名军事法官禁止检方使用穆罕默德2007年向FBI特工所作的供述，认定该供述因他在美方羁押期间遭受强制待遇而受到污染。美方政府选择不上诉该裁决，称上诉可能危及2028年6月5日的暂定审判日期。
该法官将审判日期定在检方提议的2027年1月开庭日期的18个月后，以给予辩方和检方时间处理一长串未决法律纠纷。自2012年被告首次出庭受审以来，这已是第五位负责该案的军事法官。
对于在9·11事件中失去亲人的家属而言，多年的拖延已成为创伤的一部分。
我失去了妻子：请让这个25周年纪念只属于家属们
肖恩·帕萨南蒂的父亲在北塔100层遇难，他表示随着时间推移，该案与这场暴行的严重性愈发脱节。
“这感觉就像身处朦胧地带，我们不得不为美国国土上发生的最严重恐怖袭击争取正义，这太令人难以置信了，”帕萨南蒂说道，“这一切都不真实，无法解释。”
肖恩·帕萨南蒂的父亲在北塔100层遇难，他表示时间流逝让该案与袭击的惨烈程度愈发脱节。（福克斯新闻数字频道）
帕萨南蒂称，袭击发生后除一年外，他每年都会参加纪念仪式。
“显然我不想每年都来这里，但我觉得自己必须到场。”
丹尼斯·麦金利的哥哥丹尼在南塔89层工作，他表示这些拖延让家属无法翻开痛苦的篇章。
“特朗普总统拥有独特的历史性机遇，可以成为我们的英雄、我们的支持者，最终结束这个美国噩梦——如今它正演变成美国的耻辱。”
丹尼斯·麦金利说道，麦金利的哥哥在南塔89层遇难。（福克斯新闻数字频道）
“这就像伤口从未愈合，每年都往伤口上撒盐。”
瑞安表示，他在职业生涯中失去了37名共事的警察，以及港务局的文职同事。在参与搜救行动后，他转而从事反恐工作。他称自己原本预料9·11案件会成为其职业生涯的一部分，但没想到会拖延如此之久。
“事实是，他们都已承认参与其中。问题不在于有罪与否，而在于整个程序耗时25年之久。”
该案自2012年被告首次出庭受审以来，一直在军事委员会程序中推进。而在那之前，穆罕默德已在美方羁押中度过了近十年。
他于2003年在巴基斯坦被捕，随后多年被关押在CIA“黑狱”中，遭受包括反复水刑在内的严酷审讯手段。穆罕默德及其他被告于2006年被转移至关塔那摩监狱。
被告在CIA羁押期间遭受的待遇，已成为该案的核心争议点之一。
辩方律师辩称，对被告施以酷刑后获取的供述不应被视为自愿。检方则主张，由“清洁团队”（指未参与酷刑审讯的FBI特工）后来获取的供述应当可被采纳。
近期排除穆罕默德2007年FBI供述的裁决，对检方的这一主张造成又一重击，也凸显了该案多年来一直存在的难题：检方能否将后续获取的证据与此前的酷刑审讯切割开来。
该案还因法官更迭、新冠疫情以及一项失败的认罪协议而多次中断。
2024年，被告方达成认罪协议，他们将承认有罪以换取终身监禁而非死刑。时任国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀撤销了该协议，引发新一轮诉讼。随后联邦上诉法院裁定，被告不得根据已撤销的协议认罪。
早在数年前，奥巴马政府也曾尝试另一条途径。2009年，奥巴马政府宣布将穆罕默德及另外四名被告移交纽约联邦法院审判，但该计划因纽约官员及议员对安全和后勤问题的强烈反对而被放弃。案件随后被移回关塔那摩的军事委员会程序。
拖延至今，这些被控策划袭击的人员已在羁押中逐渐老去，而关塔那摩监狱的运营成本已达数亿美元，却始终未就9·11事件作出任何判决。
瑞安表示，随着时间推移，该案已涉及两代受害者家属：袭击发生时还是孩童的家属如今已成年，而年长的父母、祖父母可能永远等不到审判结果。
“我们的司法系统并非为如此漫长的程序而设计，”瑞安说道，“它的初衷是在合理时间内实现正义，重点应当放在受害者身上，而非这五名敌方战斗人员。”
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‘Open sore’: Families face agonizing wait as 9/11 mastermind’s trial pushed nearly 27 years after attacks
September 11, 2026 5:25pm EDT / Fox News
A military judge set a tentative trial date of June 2028, nearly 27 years after the attack killed nearly 3,000
By Morgan Phillips Fox News
9/11 families describe ‘twilight zone’ of waiting decades for justice
Families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks reflect on a case still unresolved 25 years later, as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants await a 2028 trial.
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Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, families waiting to see the accused plotters brought to justice are confronting another extraordinary possibility: They may still never see a verdict.
A military judge has scheduled alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants to go on trial June 5, 2028, nearly 27 years after the attacks. But the date remains tentative, and a recent ruling barring prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents has underscored the legal obstacles still threatening the case.
“It’s like an open sore, and that sore gets even more hurtful when we get to anniversaries,” John Ryan, former chief of department with the Port Authority Police who spent nine months working on the recovery operation at Ground Zero, told Fox News Digital.
JUDGE THROWS OUT KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S 9/11 CONFESSION IN ALREADY LONG WAIT FOR TRIAL
Ryan is among the victims’ families and first responders who have watched the prosecution drag through years of litigation over evidence obtained after the defendants were subjected to torture in CIA custody, a collapsed plea agreement, repeated changes in military judges and a mountain of unresolved pretrial motions.
“It’s like an open sore, and that sore gets even more hurtful when we get to anniversaries,” John Ryan, former chief of department with the Port Authority Police who spent nine months working on the recovery operation at Ground Zero, told Fox News Digital.(Fox News Digital)
“Here we are 25 years later, and I’m still involved in this aspect of that here because we still have not convicted or taken to justice the five people that are being held at Guantánamo Bay,” Ryan, who later became a commander with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, said. “The planners, KSM and the others that are in custody, are awaiting trial.”
Mohammed and three other defendants have been held by the U.S. for years without facing trial for their alleged roles in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people. A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, is being handled separately after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, has been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2003.(AP)
A military judge recently barred prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents in 2007, finding that the statements were tainted by the coercive treatment he had experienced in U.S. custody. The government chose not to appeal the ruling, saying an appeal could jeopardize the June 5, 2028, trial date.
The judge set the trial 18 months after the prosecution’s proposed January 2027 start to give the defense and government time to work through a long list of unresolved legal disputes. He is the fifth military judge to oversee the case since the defendants were arraigned in 2012.
For families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, the years of delay have become another part of the trauma.
I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11; PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIES
Sean Passananti, whose father was killed on the 100th floor of the North Tower, said the passage of time has made the case feel increasingly detached from the scale of the crime.
“It feels really like a twilight zone and unbelievable that we have to fight for justice for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on our soil,” Passananti said. “It doesn’t feel real. It’s unexplainable.”
SON WHO LOST FATHER IN 9/11 ATTACKS SHARES POWERFUL LESSONS 25 YEARS LATER: ‘I’M STILL HERE’
Passananti said he has attended the memorial ceremony every year but one since the attacks.
“I wish I wasn’t here, obviously, but I feel like I have to be here every year,” he said.
Sean Passananti, whose father was killed on the 100th floor of the North Tower, said the passage of time has made the case feel increasingly detached from the scale of the crime.(Fox News Digital)
Dennis McGinley, whose older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, said the delays have kept his family from closing a painful chapter.
“President Trump has a unique, historic opportunity here to be a hero, be our champion, finally close the books on this American nightmare, which is now becoming an American embarrassment,” McGinley said.
McGinley described the families’ grief as an injury that keeps reopening.
“It is like the wound never healed, and every year we get salt poured back into that wound,” he said.
Ryan said he lost 37 police officers he had worked with during his career, along with civilian colleagues at the Port Authority. After the recovery operation, he moved into counterterrorism work. He said he expected the 9/11 case to remain part of his professional life, but not for this long.
“The fact is that they’ve all admitted their involvement. It’s not a question of guilt. It’s just a question of the process and the fact that the process has taken 25 years,” Ryan said.
The case has been moving through the military commissions since the defendants were arraigned in 2012. By then, Mohammed had already spent nearly a decade in U.S. custody.
He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held for years at CIA “black sites,” where he was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, including repeated waterboarding.
Mohammed and the other defendants were transferred to Guantánamo in 2006.
The treatment of the defendants in CIA custody has become one of the central obstacles in the prosecution.
Defense attorneys have argued that statements obtained after the defendants were tortured cannot be considered voluntary. Prosecutors have argued that later statements made to FBI agents by a “clean team” should be admissible.
The recent ruling excluding Mohammed’s 2007 FBI statements dealt another blow to that effort and highlighted a problem that has followed the case for years: whether prosecutors can separate evidence gathered later from the coercive interrogations that came before it.
The case has also been disrupted by changes in judges, the coronavirus pandemic and a failed plea agreement.
In 2024, the defendants reached plea agreements that would have required them to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences rather than face the death penalty. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew the agreements, prompting another round of litigation. A federal appeals court later blocked the defendants from entering guilty pleas under the withdrawn deals.
Years earlier, the Obama administration had tried another route.
In 2009, the administration announced that Mohammed and four other defendants would be prosecuted in federal court in Manhattan. That plan was abandoned after fierce opposition from New York officials and lawmakers who raised security and logistical concerns.
The case was moved back to the military commissions at Guantánamo, where it has remained.
The delays have left the accused plotters aging at a detention complex that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while producing no verdict in the 9/11 case.
Dennis McGinley, whose older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, said the delays have kept his family from closing a painful chapter.(Fox News Digital)
The criminal prosecution is separate from the civil lawsuit that 9/11 families have brought against Saudi Arabia, although the two proceedings intersect in the families’ broader search for a full accounting of the attacks.
The military commission is focused on whether Mohammed and the other defendants planned and carried out the terrorist operation. The civil case examines whether Saudi government employees or agents helped two hijackers establish themselves in the United States.
A trial in the civil case could force testimony and the release of evidence that families believe may clarify how the plot was supported before the attacks. The Saudi-related allegations, however, are not the charges at issue in the Guantánamo prosecution.
Ryan said the passage of time means the case now spans two generations of victims’ families: people who were children when the attacks happened and are now adults and older parents and grandparents who fear they may never live to see a verdict.
If the current schedule holds, the proceedings would begin June 5, 2028, almost 27 years after the attacks and 16 years after the defendants were arraigned.
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“Our justice system isn’t designed to work that late,” Ryan said. “It’s designed to produce justice in a fair time. And the emphasis needs to be on the victims as opposed to the five enemy combatants.”